


Savor

by khgirl153



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-08 02:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5480057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khgirl153/pseuds/khgirl153
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ladybug allows Chat to learn insignificant details about her. Chat Noir savors every bit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Savor

Finally. After a whole year of fighting side by side and strengthening their bond of trust, Chat Noir, the bearer of cat-astrophic bad luck, was finally able to proclaim his greatest wish to his lady. Finally.

“My Lady?” The alley cat began, toying with his leather faux tail. He winced at how shy he sounded compared to his usual displays of confidence and exuberance. But who could blame him? This wasn’t easy to bring up. Especially when it’s so near and dear to his heart.

Ladybug, the luminous object of his heart, perks her head at the sound of his uncharacteristically timid voice. This was definitely weird. Even on Chat’s scale.

He took in a deep breath and shut his eyes tight, bracing for yet another rejection.

“You don’t have to tell me your identity! Just please let me know you!” The black cat, face ablaze, was ready to spring away from his perch on the Eiffel Tower and leap back home and hide.

“Why?” Ladybug asks, quirking a perfect eyebrow and wearing a shaky smile. Cleary she was still weary of Chat trying to unmask her. If she accidentally revealed something significant, then it would be goodbye secrets and security. Not only that, but if an enemy was listening in, they might use that information against the duo. It wasn’t like Ladybug didn’t trust Chat. She just didn’t trust herself.

But how many more rejections can he take? His heart is so full of love and admiration for his lady. All he wants is a chance to bring her closer to him even though she tries to pull away from him. Is that too much for this cat to ask for?

“I…” Chat begins, tugging the end of his “tail” harder and clenching his teeth. “I just want to understand you Ladybug.” He keeps his head down so that he couldn’t see her expression and continued. “Like I said. You don’t have to tell me who you are. But…” He gulps and shudders. “I want to know the things that you like, don’t like, and even what you think about when there aren’t any akumas around.”

Chat dared to bring his head back up and stare at the enchanting lights of Paris. Perhaps focusing on the city of love will give him courage to try and make his love understand.

“For a long time, we’ve been at a distance from each other even though we fight side by side.” He went on when Ladybug didn’t speak. “I don’t really care too much about being Paris’s favorite hero. All I really want is someone to understand me and care about me as a person. And that’s what you’ve done for me.”

The alley cat finally turns to look at his partner, noting the wide-eyed look that she gave him.

“Now I want to do the same for you. Even if it’s just a little bit.” Chat finished with a little smile. “I want to know you. Not just as an image or idea. But as a person. A friend.”  
The two of them were silent for a few minutes. Chat turned back to Paris’s lights and waited patiently for Ladybug to think about his proposal. As he waited, he braced his heart for what he felt like was an inevitable rejection.

In all honesty, whether or not Ladybug agreed to his idea, he would still love her and be by her side. They’ve gone through too much together for them to just split up because of something like this. Not only that, but they really do need each other in this battle.

Chat Noir needed his lady to help him clean up the mess that he made with his bad luck. He also needed someone to remind him how having bad luck can be good luck in and of itself. It was almost like he was a walking example of hope. No matter how many times his luck may work against him, Chat still gets up and faces the day. He still gets up and tries.

Ladybug, with all of her good luck, needed Chat’s bad luck to help her grow and learn as a person and as a hero. If she never made a mistake, then what was the point of her even trying anymore? In anything? And who else would be there to remind her that she wasn’t alone and that she didn’t have to shoulder the safety of Paris on her small shoulders?

The spotted heroine mulls on this idea and sighs. That cat was probably her best friend, aside from Alya of course. Who else is there who could understand the stress and responsibilities of protecting your home and loved ones? And it wasn’t like Chat was ordering her to detransform and reveal herself. After all this time, Chat never forced her to do anything that she wasn’t uncomfortable with and he hardly (or actually never) asked for anything from her in return.

It was the least that she could do for her friend.

“I really like the color pink.” Ladybug began, grinning when her partner’s head shot back towards her with wide attentive eyes. “I also like deep royal blues, reds, as well.”

Ladybug continued to grin as she stood up and readied her yoyo. The sun was beginning to rise and it was time for her to go home. Thank goodness it wasn’t a school night.

“I also like the color green.” She said with a gentle smile, remembering her dear Adrien’s verdant eyes. Flicking her yoyo out with an expert hand, Ladybug began her race back home.

Chat Noir was never happier. He felt blessed to finally make a small breakthrough with the love of his heart. And never had he felt luckier to have green eyes.

*****

Over the next month, Adrien learned that Ladybug liked sugar cookies, the smell of mint (remembered to have at least one mint a day), and that she didn’t like fish (they agreed to disagree). He also learned that she liked to sit by the Seine and sort out her thoughts. He noted to stop by there every now and then so that he could feel closer to his lady and imagine meeting her there when they weren’t wearing their masks. Adrien also liked to imagine that he would be able to pick her out in the crowd that gathered around there.

Adrien felt like he was finally making a silver lining in spite of his bad luck. He was making a connection to the one person he wanted to be closest to. At school, people would notice how gentle his smiles have become when he was alone and in his thoughts. The photographers have noted how an aura of calmness and sheet happiness made his modeling more sincere and lifelike compared to his previous stiffness.

It was like Adrien was a new person. Someone who was becoming better with each little detail he found about his lady. Even patrol time, which was already wonderful due to the sheer fact that he could spend time with his love, became even more enjoyable.

But…

“Adrien. You’ve got to stop.” Plagg said with droopy ears. “You’re going to get hurt if this keeps up.”

Adrien, tugging on his nightshirt (which was decorated with a little ladybug over his heart), frowns at his kwami. He shakes his head as he climbs into bed, Plagg gliding over to sit on his bedpost closest to Adrien’s head.

“Why Plagg? I’m just getting closer to Ladybug.” He began, another gentle smile floating on his lips. “This is something I’ve always wanted. How can I get hurt?”

Plagg shakes his head and bites his lip. This was unusual. Just like the time when Adrien asked Ladybug his question on the Eiffel Tower.

“Listen. I’m only telling you this through experience.” His ears droop as his large green eyes close. “Every person who I have chosen to become a black cat, male and female, have always fallen victim to one thing: A broken heart.”

That got Adrien’s attention.

Plagg, sensing his companion’s gaze on him, continued.

“It’s a constant cycle. Black cat finds his or her partner, becomes enraptured, then ensnared, and broken.” He shrugs. “I don’t know why. People I choose always fall in love with their respective partner. But the end is always the same.”

Adrien bites his bottom lip and stares at his clenched fists in his lap.

“So you’re saying that Ladybug is leading me to my doom or something? That the love I have for her is going to be my downfall?” He asks under his breath.

“All I’m saying is that you need to stop before your heart gets broken like the rest of them have.” Plagg whispers as he floats up and lands on top of Adrien’s soft hair. “What if Ladybug is only allowing this because she wants to keep you as a friend? What if she’s already in love with someone else? What if an enemy uses your feelings for her against you?”

What if. What if. What if.

Those two words were spinning around in Adrien’s head and he began to feel sick.

“The closer you hold her to your heart, the easier it will be for her to hurt you. Even if she doesn’t mean to.” Plagg sighs. “This is my advice to you, as a friend: Stop trying to pursue a dream and look at what is right in front of you.”

It would take a couple hours for Adrien to fall asleep. He didn’t want to surrender his love for his lady. She wasn’t a dream. She was, IS, real. Ladybug finally trusts him enough to divulge what she probably thought was insignificant. But to Adrien, her Chat Noir, they were everything. How can he “pursue” anyone or anything else when his heart has already been sealed away to HER?

This is what he decided before he closed his eyes.

Even if she broke his heart, fell in love with someone else, and even if the end result killed him or turned him into an akuma-ridden victim, Adrien knew that his heart would still be hers. He will savor every moment, every detail, until his dying day.

*****

“It is only a matter of time.” A low voice echoes in the spacious room filled with white glowing butterflies. “Don’t think that I’m blind to your affections for your partner, Chat Noir. And don’t think that I don’t know how the course of history for your past kin affect your present and future.”

Hawk Moth, a dark smirk and self-satisfied glow in his eyes, gazes out his window towards the Parisian skyline.

“Whether it will be your broken heart or Ladybug’s guilt, one of you will come to me. And when that day comes, I will be ready. Waiting for you with open arms.”

A dark butterfly flits through the window opening and lands in its master’s waiting hand, sending a report of its mission in tailing the lucky duo throughout their patrol. Hawk Moth’s smirk grew and his heart swelled with hope. His dream would soon be realized while theirs will be broken.

“Yes. All in good time.”

The room fades to black as the windows close and the butterflies disperse.


	2. Indulge

On a cold wintery Parisian night, snowflakes dance across the sky and decorate the Eiffel tower that holds the two heroes of Paris. It was time once again for their nightly ritual after they had wrapped up their patrol for the time being when things were peaceful and right in the city of love.

“My Lady?” Chat Noir bends down on one knee with a still hesitant, still hopeful smile and holds a single rose in full bloom towards his partner, who looks like back at him with a kind but unreadable expression. “May I know you again?”

As she did every time her cat asked her with a sincere and open heart, so the lady responds with a smile to match his own while accepting his flower. And thus, Ladybug proceeds to indulge her most trusted friend as they sat side by side on the beloved structure and symbol of their home that they fought so hard to protect.

“When I was about five years old, I got lost in a shopping mall and I ended up wandering towards the fabric department.” She began with a fond smile as she took in the sweet, delicate scent of Chat’s gift. “My mother found me about ten minutes later in a panic because she thought that someone had walked off with me. Needless to say, I was grounded that night from watching TV and eating my dad’s new homemade sweets.” 

Her laughter was musical in the alley cat’s ears as he took in this information as if it was a homemade sweet itself.

“At the time, I was really upset because I was just curious about the pretty colors and textures of the fabric and I thought that I had told her that I was going over in that direction. But, looking back on it, I know that she only grounded me because she loves me and that she had been worried about me.”

Chat Noir nodded with a far off, nostalgic smile.

“That sounds like something I did with my mom when I was little.” The cat began, his smile widening when Ladybug turned her face towards him, showing that he has her full attention. “My house is pretty big, so it was easy to play hide and seek with my mom when she wasn’t working. Anyways, there was one time when I was waiting for her to get done with a project she was working on for my dad and I was getting really tired of waiting for her to finish.”

A bubble of laughter from the surfacing memory threatened to cut Chat Noir’s story short, but he was just able to resist the urge when he saw a warm smile grow on his lady’s face.

She was listening to him. Really…listening to him. She was willing to know him too. This was…incredible.

An akuma might be patrolling the city in search of a victim or Paris may be burning, but all Chat Noir cared about was the fact that Ladybug, the girl who has held his heart from the moment he saw her, cares about him. As him. Not a model. Not a son of a rich fashion designer. But as a dorky guy who just wants to be closer to his friend.

If this was a dream, reality can take the backburner.

“My mom worked as a fashion consultant for my dad.” Chat Noir continued, daring to divulge a hint about his own personal life. “And she was in the middle of putting on the finishing touches for a client who wanted a certain set of dresses and suits for this huge Victorian-styled Valentine’s Day gala that they were hosting. I decided to sneak into her office and hide under one of those huge, puffy dresses.” He let out a small laugh. “It reminded me of cotton candy and a circus tent put together in this big frilly mess.”

Ladybug, to his delight, laughed along with him.

“Was it something like Cinderella would wear if her fairy godmother hadn’t come in?” She joked as she scrunched her adorable nose and laid her rose across her lap.  
Chat Noir’s laughter grew.

“Complete with huge pink bows and everything! If I was one of her step-sisters, I would have ripped it up too!”

The two heroes laughed at the grandiose, exaggerated imagery that Chat continued to give about the huge pink monstrosity. 

As it had turned out, when Chat’s mother had finished working and had tried to look for him throughout the house, she had a really hard time finding him. It even got to the point where she had almost panicked and called for the police to come find him since none of their servants had seen him around and she had entrusted him to a nervous nanny who had been hired to look after him while she and her husband were working (she was a very protective parent). When she found him playing around in the dress and had accidentally ripped its expensive inner lining, she then proceeded to ground her son the same way that Ladybug’s did. Instead of sweets though, it had been video games.

When Chat Noir thought about his mom, there were times when he felt like she was still close by and warm, just like his Ladybug was right now. All he had to do was think about her and revel in his memories of his mom and things would be better.

Until he remembered…that she wasn’t here anymore.

Chat Noir felt his cat ears droop as he slumped down and brought his knees up, wrapping his arms around them while maintaining his perfect balance on his metallic seat.  
“Ever since that day, I haven’t gone inside my mom’s office.” He mumbled, seeing past the city lights, barely registering the cold.

Instantly, Ladybug caught onto her partner’s sudden sombrous mood. While Chat Noir had been so enthusiastic about getting to know her, Ladybug realized that…she wasn’t asking any questions about him herself. It was all to protect them of course. She reasoned that she didn’t want anything being overheard by an enemy and having it used against them. In fact, if Ladybug had been in her normal state of mind, she would have cut off this ritual a long time ago and gone back to keeping her partner at a distance. In order to protect them both.

But…Chat Noir was so…open…and vulnerable right now. To push him away now would be nothing short of cruel, especially after they have come so close as friends and they have become more in sync with each other during battle. The more that they let each other in, the more it seemed like they were suited for each other in and out of the heat of a fight.

The thought both excites and terrifies Ladybug as she continues to stare at the scrunched up leather ball that was her friend and partner.

“What happened?” Ladybug found herself asking, her heart stuttering when she realized what she had done.

A little voice screamed inside her head as she forced her outer shell to maintain a calm façade.

She can’t be doing this! Stop with the questions! Stop indulging him and go home! Just stop! For both of your sakes!

But it was too late.

Ladybug cared too much for Chat Noir to just up and leave. Especially when his shoulders tensed and his back muscles tightened. If it hadn’t been for the extra protection that had accompanied their suits for this kind of wintery moment, Ladybug would have shoved it aside as just the cold bothering the black cat like it normally did. But she knew all too well that it wasn’t the case this time.

Before she could stop herself, Ladybug placed Chat Noir’s rose to the side and wrapped her thin arms around his quivering head. Now that she was up closer to him, she could see tear droplets slowly glide down the bridge of his masked nose and fall onto his lap.

He was crying.

Chat Noir, her strong, lively, boisterous, charmingly annoying partner, friend, and protector was crying.

He didn’t even make a sound as the tears fell. Was he used to crying this quiet? Did he not allow himself to make any sounds when he felt such pain?

As if his pain was her own, Ladybug felt a dagger lance through her heart and she bled for him. She brought her embrace tighter around him and gently rested his head below her chin, stroking his messy golden hair with one gloved hand.

“You don’t have to answer.” Ladybug whispered as Chat Noir slowly, almost eagerly, fell into her arms. She continued to hold him as he unwrapped his arms from his legs to move his embrace to around her waist.

For a moment, he paused.

Chat Noir was afraid. Terrified.

What if she let him go? What if she vanished? Just like his mother did?

Plagg’s warning from three months ago rang as fresh and clear as if he had spoken it that morning. If his kwami was right, then Chat Noir was setting his heart out in a place where it could be crushed to the point where he may never be the same again. It was a petrifying idea to have, especially when Ladybug had made it pretty clear in the past that she didn’t seem to see him as a romantic interest.

Now that she was allowing him to get closer though, Chat Noir couldn’t help but get his hopes up. He couldn’t help but imagine that there was finally a possibility that his lady would be able to love him even if he should drop his mask. And that hope was what led him to where he was tonight.

And that hope continued to rise when he felt Ladybug stroke his hair and plant a feather like kiss on the top of his head.

He lost it. Right there.

Chat Noir, Adrien Agreste, the perfect model who knew when and how to smile in spite of his lonely pain, finally broke down, tightly embraced his love, and wept out loud like he did the day that his mother had vanished.

When Adrien’s mom left, there hadn’t been a note, a sign, or even an explanation from his father. Maybe it was because he didn’t have one to give. And ever since that day, Adrien was scared of the possible day when he would lose the one he loved just like his father did. With Ladybug, that meant that every battle by her side could be the last day he would see her. Chat Noir was scared that he would lose her to a wrong turn in a fight or when they weren’t needed as heroes any more.

“I promise.” Ladybug whispered as she continued to hold him closer, seemingly reading his thoughts. “I’m not going anywhere. No matter what happens, we’ll fight this battle together.” She kissed the top of his head again with that feathery touch. “I promise.”

For the rest of that evening, Ladybug held Chat Noir close as the rest of Paris slept away, unaware of the warmth that had bloomed on the Eiffel Tower in spite of the chilling, biting air.

Likewise, their heroes were unaware of an abnormally black butterfly flying away from its perch above their heads towards its waiting master.

Later, when Plagg’s charge was home safe and fast asleep, he quietly snuck out of Adrien’s warm mansion and zoomed off towards a the roof of a certain bakery that he knew Tikki resided in with her own charge.

Sure enough, the little red kwami was waiting on the railing of Marinette’s balcony porch as if she had been expecting him. Making hardly sound when he glided to a stop next to Tikki, Plagg crossed his tiny black arms and gave her a stern, piercing glare.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Plagg hissed, his fangs gleaming in the moon’s reflecting light. “I thought that Ladybug wasn’t interested in Chat Noir. And now she’s giving him kisses and accepting roses and getting his hopes up and filling his head with stupid things that are a waste of my time and his.”

Tikki rolled her eyes and frowned.

“I’m not doing anything.” She bit back, mimicking his stance. “While I do agree that Ladybug shouldn’t be giving Chat the wrong idea, I don’t think that it was wrong of her to listen to her friend.”

“But now he’s got it in his head that he’s got a chance!” Plagg exploded, stomping his feet, kicking the snow off the rail. “History is repeating itself Tikki! And it’s all because your girl is too paranoid about trusting her partner and my kid is too love-struck by the image she’s putting up around him when they have their masks on!” He hissed again, black fur rising. “Tell your girl that she needs start trusting my kid! You know for a fact that everything can be solved and done with if they just figured it out! Force her if you have to because I can’t take it!”

Tikki sighed and turned to look up at the full moon, closing her eyes as little snowflakes caress her red cheeks.

“You know we can’t force it Plagg.” Tikki whispered, feeling her heart whimper in pain for her girl. “If we force this set of events, they’re both going to be hurting. We have to let things take their natural course.”

Plagg growled and tugged his long black ears.

“This is so annoying…” He grumbled, sitting down slowly. “Why can’t the kid just choose cheese instead? Cheese never hurt anyone. Unless they were lactose intolerant. Then it’s their loss.”

The two remained silent for a little while until Tikki spoke again.

“Love is worth any loss. It’s just a matter of fighting for it when the time comes.”


End file.
